Wayne Rooney is in a race against time to be fit for Manchester United s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich.
Rooney will miss United s trip to Newcastle on Saturday after manager David Moyes revealed the striker was struggling with a toe injury he sustained during last Tuesday s 1-1 draw against Bayern at Old Trafford.
The 28-year-old, who injured his ankle at the Allianz Arena in 2010, is now a doubt for the trip to Munich for the club s do-or-die clash with Bayern on Wednesday.
Wayne is injured. He has a badly bruised toe so he won t be involved against Newcastle. It will be touch and go for Wayne for Wednesday, Moyes told reporters on Friday.
It s a toe injury and they re never easy when you get one. You could see him limping in the game towards the end, quite badly.
He has a bad toe. There s not an awful lot you can do with a toe injury. Sometimes you can feel better quite quickly with them and sometimes you need an injection to play with it if it s bruising.
With a lot of toe injuries, you have to make sure there isn t a hairline fracture or crack in your toe. We will have all that checked.
England manager Roy Hodgson will be sweating on the news, with there being a possibility of a hairline fracture, which could mean several weeks on the sidelines.
That would severely hamper Hodgson s plans ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, which is just over two months away.
Foot injuries have plagued Rooney throughout his career and played a significant part in his inability to perform for England in football s showcase event.
Just six weeks out from England s 2006 World Cup Group B opener against Paraguay, Rooney fractured his metatarsal bone after an innocuous challenge by Chelsea s Paulo Ferreira in United s 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Rooney was expected to be sidelined for the group stages but featured in all but one game as England were eliminated by Portugal in the quarter-finals.
He went goalless throughout the tournament.
Fast forward four years and Rooney also went into the 2010 World Cup under an injury cloud after damaging his ankle during United s 2-1 loss to Bayern in Munich.
Rooney started all three Group C matches but failed to find the back
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of the net in another disappointing campaign for England.
